Mike Deschamps – Taking My First Buck with my PSE

Mike Deschamps

Editor’s Note: Mike Deschamps from Brooktondale, New York, has been on the PSE Pro Staff since Pete Shepley first started the company.

I started shooting PSE in the 1980s, because even back then, they were the best bows on the market. Pete Shepley had a vision of making the best bows possible, and he accomplished his goal when he first started PSE. That vision has continued on even until today. When I first met Pete at a show, I was in charge of product development for the Ithaca Gun Company. I’ve been on PSE’s Pro Staff ever since. Even though I work for a gun company, I’m a bowhunter, and today I hunt strictly with a bow. I remember the first deer I ever took with a PSE bow – a PSE Mach 1.5. He was a Pope & Young buck that scored 140. So, that’s how long ago I was shooting PSE bows. This hunt was a really quick one, since I only had about 1 1/2 hours to hunt. I knew there was a good buck in the area where I was hunting. I took my Baker tree stand, one of the first commercial climbing tree stands on the outdoor market to where I’d planned to hunt and climbed the tree. I had to hug the tree and pull the stand up with my feet. Then, I locked the stand into the tree with my heels, stood up and repeated the same motions, until I reached the place where I wanted to place my stand.

The buck came out at 14 yards from my stand. I aimed right behind the shoulder and released the arrow. The arrow penetrated both lungs. The buck took two jumps, stopped, looked back and collapsed. That buck scored 140 P&Y, which was a huge buck for the State of New York back in those days. That buck wouldn’t have been as impressive today, because hunters are beginning to let some bucks walk. Too, some states have hunting restrictions now. So, as the deer grow older, or are allowed to grow older, we’re seeing more and more big deer here in New York. I know of three Boone & Crockett bucks from New York taken this past season.

I like PSE bows so well and continue to shoot their bows, because they not only were the most highly technical bows on the market from the beginning, but I’ve learned over the years, they’re the most reliable bows available. When you’re hunting dangerous game, that’s not the time to find out whether or not your bow’s reliable. This week I’ll be telling you about a polar bear, a grizzly bear, an arctic wolf and an African lioness that had been killing domestic livestock that I’ve taken with my PSE bow. When you’re up close and personal with animals that can hurt you, reliability becomes a major quality that I want in a bow I use for hunting. Throughout my hunting career, my PSE bows have performed flawlessly. I’ve taken a Coues deer in 116 degree plus weather and a polar bear in minus 16 degree weather. I’ve found that regardless of the temperature or the terrain, PSE bows can take the test of the elements and pass with flying colors.

Tomorrow: Mike Deschamps Says He’ll Never Go on a Polar Bear Bowhunt Again

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